I hope you enjoy one of my favorite Beach Boy’s songs. I also included one of my favorite “Pure Michigan” videos. Despite the rainy, cool weather, it makes me want to jump in the lake!
Ok, my adopted hometown of Bay City is highlighted on this recent episode of Under The Radar. Check it out. Pretty interesting stuff, especially if you don’t know a whole lot about Michigan.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. Bay City has so much damn potential. It all comes down to one thing: JOBS. Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox now. Enjoy the episode! Oh, and this is pretty sweet too.
I’ve been working on this feature for Ramblings of a Misguided Blonde for a while now. Today I’m proud to announce a new series of interviews with local artists, musicians, writers, and entrepreneurs. As you may well know, Michigan, and mid-Michigan – otherwise known as the Great Lakes Bay region – especially, hasn’t fared well economically over the last decade or so. This is my small way of trying to showcase all the homegrown talent in the region. If you are interested in being featured, please contact me at lindsey.j.russell@gmail.com.
For the first installment I’m proud to feature an e-mail interview with local musician and radio personality Bob Hughes. Much more to come!
What an incredible week all around. My head’s full of ideas for my writing and Ramblings of a Misguided Blonde especially. I’m hoping to start series highlighting creative endeavors in and around the Great Lakes Bay region, both in the arts and in business. Nothing is set yet, but I have quite a few prospects. My reasoning behind the series is to show that there is still life here, both creatively and from a business standpoint. It is no secret that Michigan’s still not quite recovering from the recession of 2008-2009. Honestly, if you want the truth no one is willing to admit, Michigan never fully recovered after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Just as things started getting a bit brighter, something always seemed to come along to set Michigan back, but enough of that deeply depressing topic.
I’m hoping to soon have a regular blogging schedule here. I realize how scattered the content has been as of late. There are so many things I want to do here. If you have any suggestions or would like to guest post, please simply leave me a comment. I’m open to new ideas.
It all began this morning while making my usual Facebook rounds. I saw that a friend of my brother posted a YouTube video featuring a vintage travelogue of Michigan from the 1940s. I just had to share it. Michigan is home and has been for all branches of my family going back generations now. As much as it kills me to admit this, I am a Michigander to the core. I’ve lived in Michigan most of my life thus far, I graduated from Michigan State University, and the Great Lakes are in my blood. I even grudgingly admit that I have a Michigan, not Canadian or Minnesotan, accent. Yes my fellow Michiganders there is such a thing.
Once there was a time in my life when I desperately wanted to leave it all behind. Just like so many other people in my family, I wanted to live in Texas. My family’s off-again, on-again love affair with Texas is a separate issue that could easily fill another post. Oddly enough, it extends to both sides of my family. Why do I bring this up? I bring it up because it was through my experiences in Texas, and those of a cousin, that I realized Michiganders are unique.
Let me explain. I have an older cousin who lived in Texas herself for a year or two. I followed suit after graduating from college. I then noticed something when I came home. She and I had our own accents. It didn’t last long as we reverted back to our Michigan accents, but for a while, if one carefully listened to how we spoke, it became easy to identify the Texas influence in our speech. I loved it. We had our own version of Spanglish. Texigan?
The entire experience, which I may have mostly imagined, made me think long and hard about the impact of place on culture. It then occurred to me that, if it were geographically possible, the place that I’d feel most comfortable would be with one foot in Michigan and the other in Texas. Here’s the problem. I love Michigan. My entire family is here, I can’t imagine not living near so much fresh water, and the change of seasons is great, even when someone decides to cancel winter.
Where do I even begin with Texas? I love the independent spirit of Texas, and unfortunately, I find it seriously lacking in most Michiganders, much of my family excluded. There is a reason why Texans are fixin’ to do just about anything. Michiganders, not so much. Texans know how to recognize people with big hats and no cattle. Michigan would be so much better off if we could develop that sixth-sense!
Unfortunately I am much more politically aligned with Texans than I am with Michiganders. I despise most unions, I can’t stand political apathy, and I am all for limited government that recognizes the rights of the individual. I’ve watched my entire life as Michigan hedged all of her bets on a dying auto industry. Instead of trying to build new industry here, we shipped our best and brightest off to Texas, Arizona, and California. Especially Texas.
Texas continues to reinvent itself and roll with the punches, exactly what Michigan needed to do and needs to do now. Texans had the foresight to embrace technology in all forms instead of relying solely on oil and ranching. I think of Michigan and see nothing but lost opportunity. It deeply saddens me. I truly love Michigan and care about the state. I just hope the recent signs of life here are the start of something wonderful. Michigan does have a history of reinventing herself too; it is just that the entire process is hindered by misguided politicians and union influence. Maybe almost losing it all will finally wake up those eternally skeptical Michiganders.
Below are a few videos of interest:
The video above is the video I came across this morning that inspired this post. The video below is an inspiring version of “Michigan My Michigan” that honors those Michigan soldiers that fought for the union. I’m proud to say that I have a great-great grandfather who was among them.
Below is an attempt to explain the Michigan accent. It freaks me out because my recorded voice sounds so similar to hers. If you ever wondered what I sound like, this video will give you a pretty good idea.
This post is in memory of the tragedy that occurred 36 years ago today, the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior, just off White Fish Point. You can find plenty of information on famous Great Lakes shipwrecks by clicking the link above. Fascinating stuff.
I recently finished two Michigan-based true crime novels, Isadore’s Secret and When Evil Came to Good Hart, both by Michigan writer Mardi Link. It is not my intention to review either book at this time; however, I can say this. Both are captivating reads. Both are stories that stay with you long after you’ve read the last sentence. What more can a reader ask for in a true crime book? Not much.
Her books got me thinking and I decided to see if the author has a website and/or blog. Fortunately, she has both. Unfortunately, there are no more novels to read, yet. Her blog is wonderful. I highly recommend with the blog post below. She gets right to the point, and I tend to agree with her.
It is sad to me that there are people who find so little mystery in life. How can anyone look at nature and not believe that some high power, whatever you happen to call it, sparked it in the first place? I refuse to believe that I’m some accidental product of a random evolutionary process void of any human creativity whatsoever.
Personally, I think both creationists and evolutionists miss the point. What if a higher power created the evolutionary process, and both beliefs hold some kernel of truth? Something to think about. By the way, the picture above is of Saginaw Bay.
I love water! I simply can’t imagine not living by a river, a bay, a lake, or some combination of the three. Then again, I’ve spent most of my life living near Saginaw Bay and the Rifle River (and now, as an adult, the Saginaw River in Bay City). It is easy to forget just how big the Great Lakes are, not to mention unique. I think that most people in Michigan take them for granted, which is a shame. You don’t appreciate a real lake until you live in Texas, but that’s just my opinion.
By the way, you’ll want to read the entire post linked above. It certainly makes a point.
Ramblings of a Misguided Blonde 